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Chapter summary: Better not. It’ll ruin the surprise!

Chapter Fourteen – Paradise Lost

Aiko had been awake since dawn and was relaxing with a second cup of tea in the sun-filled kitchen when the children began to wake and come downstairs for their breakfast.

Benjiro was the first to emerge; he always seemed to bounce out of bed full of kittenish energy and would usually climb up onto her lap for a good morning cuddle before she got him something to eat. Aiko was warming milk for him when the eldest twins came down. Aiko was not much surprised to see that they were holding hands quite unselfconsciously, their long tails affectionately entwined. Aiko was aware they’d begun spending their nights together now as well as their days. She smiled good morning as they seated themselves side by side at the table, just as Hanako and her twin Hideaki came in.

Hanako sat down with sleepy eyes and said nothing, not yet fully awake, staring unfocused at the far wall. She was definitely not a morning cat. Hideaki however looked around the table curiously.

“Where is everyone?” he asked, yawning and stretching.

Aiko handed Benjiro his bowl of warm milk and reseated herself. “What do you mean, Hidi-chan? Aren’t six at this table enough?”

Hideaki flashed a grin and shook his head. “You know what I mean, mum. Where’s Dad and Grandpa and Grandma?”

“They left early this morning for the mainland; we got an email last night to say our new gestation unit is ready to be picked up. Grandma decided to go along for the boat ride and get some shopping done in town.” She paused to sip her tea, then continued, “I thought that gestation unit was never going to arrive. It’s been more than two months since the BioTech Expo. Apparently there was some mix-up with our order.”

“Doesn’t our old one work anymore?” Mieko asked.

“When your father and Grandpa saw the latest model they fell in love with it and had to have it,” Aiko answered. “What are you doing after study today?”

“We thought we’d go over to the gym and practice some flying side kicks,” Hideaki said.

“Only Mrs Hisoka says I can’t go until I’ve handed in my essay,” and Hanako grimaced at the unfairness of the children’s private tutor.

“Well you’d better hurry up and get it done, then,” her brother told her. “I need to practice with you. Mont and Miek are too tall for me to spar with now.”

“Benji go too?” Benjiro said longingly. “Benji can fly…”

Aiko looked down at his eager little face and felt a pang. He tried so hard to keep up with his four elder siblings, but was still too young. He could only levitate for a few seconds at a time. The psychic skills of the Mewtwo species had been found to improve with age, and while all his elder siblings were now competent, he only got in their way or became frustrated and left out. And he had no twin to bond with, to distract him and play with as all the others did, so he tended to get bored and lonely. The wistfulness she saw in his face reminded her poignantly of her first meeting with Little Mew, alone in his gestation unit.

“I need you today, Benji,” she said. “I want somebody big and strong to carry a bucket and spade and help me collect seashells on the beach. It’s for a present I’m making for Grandma’s birthday. I’ve got to find the prettiest shells I can to glue onto a jewellery box for her. Would you help me look?”

“Okay mummy,” Benjiro agreed, giving in with a pleased look at having something useful to do. He thought about it for a moment, a small concentration line appearing between his eyes. The expression was so exactly like his father’s that Aiko had a hard time keeping a straight face. “We find feathers too?” he asked.

“Mmm, yes, I think a few feathers would look very nice. You can choose which ones to use.”

The four eldest siblings finished their breakfast, packed their used plates into the dishwasher neatly and left for school across the courtyard, Mieko and Montaro showing off a little by levitating and twirling in mid-air in complicated pirouettes before they’d even got out the door.

The telephone in the living room rang loudly and Aiko went to answer it. “Hello. Can I help you?”

A man’s face appeared on the large wall-mounted screen. He was holding a clipboard in one hand; he glanced at it before looking back up at her. “Yes, are you Dr. Fuji? I work for Raikatuji Corporation. Your gestation unit’s ready.”

“Yes, I know, we received an email about that last night,” Aiko confirmed. “My husband has already gone to the mainland to pick it up.”

“What? Oh, there must be some mistake. My orders were to deliver it here, to Shima. My boat is at your jetty now, with the unit on board. I can get my crew to unload it, but you need to come and sign for it, and show us where you’d like it installed.”

Aiko gave an exasperated sigh. “It seems somebody made a mistake with our order. My husband must be almost at the mainland by now.”

The man shrugged. “Sorry, Dr Fuji, but that’s not my problem. Can you come down to the jetty please? I’ve got another delivery to make after this one, so I’d like to get this unit installed and leave as quick as I can.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll be there in five minutes.” Aiko broke the connection and went back into the kitchen. “Have you finished breakfast Benji? Then run and get your bucket and spade. Mummy has to go down to the jetty to pick up our new gestation unit. It seems your Daddy’s had a wasted trip!”
*

The boat did not look much like the delivery vessels Aiko was used to. The boat that brought their monthly supplies from the mainland was a sturdy tub, built to withstand the occasional violent storm that could occur here in the winter months. By comparison the boat in front of her was a sleek catamaran, not unlike their own, built for speed.

Aiko could see two men waiting on the jetty next to their vessel. They were carrying a large wooden box between them, presumably the gestation unit. They set it down carefully as she approached.

The clipboard-carrying man she had spoken to on the telephone straightened as he saw her walking towards them. “Dr Fuji?”

He stopped speaking, his eyes widening at the sight of Benjiro carrying his bucket with a few seashells and pebbles already in it. He gave a crooked grin. “Well, would you look at that! What a cute little pokemon!”

He stretched out one hand as if to pat Benjiro, but the child suddenly hissed warningly, his fur bristling, and ducked behind Aiko. Aiko stared down at him in surprise – Benjiro was usually the friendliest of all the children.

“It’s all right, Benji, this nice man is delivering our unit! Come on, come and say hello,” she told him gently.

Benji’s ears were flat to his skull and his blue eyes were blazing. He merely shook his head wordlessly, clutching Aiko’s leg. Fear and wariness emanated from him.

Aiko glanced back at the deliveryman. “I’m sorry, he’s usually happy to meet new people. I can’t understand why he’s so shy today…”

The other man standing by the box said, “Could we hurry this up, Ryo? We’ve gotta get going.”

“All right, Hoshi, keep your hair on. I happen to like cat pokemons.” He turned to face Aiko again. “Could you come and inspect the unit, Dr Fuji? We need to make sure you’ve seen it before you sign. It covers us that we delivered it in good condition.”

He walked across to the box, and Aiko, with Benji still clinging to her hand, followed. The child was shaking now, and Aiko wondered what the problem was. As the two men began to remove the wooden top of the crate, she knelt down and gazed into Benjiro’s eyes. She took both his hands in hers.

“What’s wrong, Benji?” she asked softly. “What are you so upset about?”

Benji’s blue eyes flicked over her shoulder towards the man called Ryo. Suddenly, Aiko heard her son’s voice in her mind. “Don’t like man,” he said. “Got bad pictures in head…”

Bad pictures? What was he thinking that could spook the youngster this much? Aiko deliberately closed her eyes, concentrating hard on Ryo. Now that she was focusing on him, Aiko found that she could detect something, the barest hint of - what? Something not quite right, a prickling feeling of - danger? Suddenly she did not want to be here, on this lonely jetty, with Ryo and Hoshi…

Aiko stood up quickly, turning to face the pair. They had the box open now, and a single glance was enough to show that it was empty, lined with padding inside. The box suddenly looked uncomfortably like a coffin. And now Ryo had dropped his bored deliveryman persona. He was holding something in his hand. It resembled a small handgun, but with a clear glass barrel fitted to the top, a tube in which liquid sloshed. He advanced on Aiko, his eyes cold. Aiko backed up, only to bump into Hoshi, who had moved behind her. He grabbed her shoulders hard, and she lashed out, struggling.

“Benji, run!” she yelled, but the child had already launched himself at Hoshi, landing on his back, yowling and biting. Aiko wrenched free, and turned on Hoshi, who was thrashing about, trying to throw Benji off. He roared in pain and anger as the child buried his needle-sharp baby teeth into his shoulder, worrying at it like a dog with a bone. With one arm Hoshi dragged the youngster off his back, throwing him to the ground, droplets of blood spattering from the wound on the man’s shoulder.

As Aiko turned to get to her child, Ryo’s arms closed about her, and with horror she felt the gun’s nozzle pressed against her shoulder. There was a sharp hissing sound as Ryo pulled the trigger, but instead of a bullet, something icy was fired through the pores of her skin and into her bloodstream. A horrible numbness that began to spread immediately from her shoulder down into her arm and up through the rest of her body told her that she had just been administered some sort of powerful sedative.

She swayed, trying to keep her feet as whatever the drug was began to take effect. It seemed as if time had slowed down, and was moving jerkily, one frozen scene at a time. She tried to focus on her baby. He was on all fours now, growling defiantly, his tail lashing angrily. Hoshi’s blood stained the fur around his mouth.

He launched himself again, this time at Ryo. Ryo dropped Aiko, and she sank to the ground, finding her legs suddenly too weak to support her. Ryo reached out and instead of trying to fend off the miniature furry whirlwind that was Benjiro, caught him, swinging him about and bringing up the hypodermic gun. Aiko tried to call out a warning to Benji, but it was too late. A shot of sedative had been fired into the youngster, and he blinked, then dropped to the ground to sit for a second as if stunned. His eyes rolled back, and he fell face forward onto the rough wood of the jetty.

Aiko desperately struggled to get to her feet, tried to say something, but she could not move at all, and no sound came from her mouth. Hoshi walked up to Ryo, cursing. He had a handkerchief pressed against his shoulder. Bright blood soaked it.

“I’ll kill that thing!” he spat, looking at Benjiro’s unconscious body with loathing.

“You’ll help me get Fuji Aiko into the box is what you’ll do,” Ryo snapped. “We don’t know how long before the Attack Cat gets back – I want to be far away when it does.”

“It’ll be hours yet…”

“There’s four others on Shima, youngsters, but I was told they can fight, and not just kitten stuff like that one over there! They could all be on their way to the beach now, and see us with her. Come on, I’ll take her shoulders, you take her legs…”

Still grumbling, Hoshi did as he was told; as if she were dreaming, Aiko felt herself lifted into the air and lowered inside the crate. She kept trying to struggle but it was no use: whatever the drug had been, it left her unable to move. It was an effort just to keep breathing, and she held onto consciousness only dimly, hearing the men as if through a fog. Panic surged through her as the lid of the box closed, shutting her into darkness. Her head was spinning; a pounding sound loud as a jackhammer filled her ears. The world began to whirl and she wanted to scream with fright. Desperate to escape, she struggled with useless muscles; suddenly the world tilted, and with a sound like two pieces of velcro being ripped apart, she felt herself lifting from her body, up, up, and floating through the lid of the box, as if she had no substance. The world slowed its mad whirling and settled back into place; the jackhammer pounding ceased and she could see everything with great clarity in the bright morning sunlight. Feeling dazed, she looked down. The lid was still in place, and Ryo was busily fastening it with a staple gun. He seemed not to notice Aiko hovering above the box watching him.

“I’m going to drown that animal for taking a chunk out of me,” Hoshi growled, wrenching Aiko’s attention from Ryo. Hoshi also seemed unable to see Aiko; he was looking right through her at Ryo.

“Shut up and leave it alone. Have you got the letter?”

“Right here on the clipboard…”

“Then go staple it to one of the pylons where they’ll see it and stop wasting time.”

Aiko watched Hoshi pick up the dropped clipboard, tear off a sheet of typed paper and staple it to the wood of the jetty.

“What about the animal?” Hoshi insisted, turning back to Ryo.

“Stop making such a fuss! Leave it where it is, it’ll make a nice dramatic touch when they find the note and the kitten out cold. Come here, help me lift this box…”

Aiko remembered the other times when she had lifted out of her body. Then her reactions had been purely instinctive, brought on by fear and the need to get to her mate. Now she wondered if something similar was not happening – was this out-of-body experience an example of her mostly-dormant psychic ability reacting to the dangerous situation? Mewtwo was too far away to be able to help her, but could she alert one of the older children? Even as she thought it, she heard a sound like an onrushing train, then felt her consciousness pulled forcefully back into her body; like a rubber band snapping back into shape after being stretched, she was once more inside the box, lying in the darkness. She felt herself rocked against the padded sides as the two men hoisted the box and carried it onto the catamaran.

Desperately she tried to again leave the confines of her own body, but the drug was making her dazed and unable to concentrate. She vaguely heard the rumble as the engine started up, but by the time the vessel had left the jetty, Aiko had slipped into unconsciousness.
*

“Aren’t we headed in the wrong direction for the jetty?” Yutaka asked, shading his eyes against the afternoon sunshine as the island came into view, shimmering in the hazy distance.

“I’ve decided to make for the inlet nearest the lab. If I’ve got to lift the gestation unit out psychically, I want to be as close as possible. I’ll levitate you and Kagami onto the beach first.”

“You’re not telling me the unit is too heavy for you to carry across the island?” Yutaka said in mock amazement. “But I’ve seen you lift an Onyx in the stadium!”

Mewtwo smiled. “My friend, the career I had in the stadium was over twelve years ago! I’m out of practice now.”

“Nonsense, you’re just being lazy…”

“It would serve you right, Yutaka, if Mewtwo left you to swim ashore!” Kagami interrupted. “Ignore him Mewtwo, he’s just teasing.”

Yutaka and Mewtwo spent the next hour at the lab with the technical staff, unpacking and installing the gestation unit, while Kagami went to the stadium adjoining the lab to watch her grandchildren train with their human instructor. Although they would never need to fight to earn a living, they enjoyed the intense physical and psychical exercise, and Kagami found herself admiring the self-defensive moves, thinking privately that it resembled aerial ballet.

By late afternoon the family walked back to the house, chatting. They walked inside to find it deserted.

“That’s strange, the place is very quiet. Where are Aiko and Benji?” Kagami wondered, looking around. She turned to the tall cat next to her. “Mewtwo, can you spot her?”

Mewtwo concentrated, a puzzled expression appearing on his face. “I can’t detect her signature anywhere in the house,” he said. “She must have gone for a walk.” He looked at the kitten twins. “This is a good opportunity to see which of you is best at spotting psychic signatures from a distance. Let’s go outside and you can levitate and see where your mother is.”

“That’s easy,” Montaro scoffed. “We’ve been spotting for months now, Dad.”

Nevertheless, they all trooped outside, and all four children levitated and rotated
slowly in the air, higher and higher, searching. After five minutes or so, Hanako and Hideaki descended, shaking their heads in defeat. Mieko and Montaro continued slowly twirling, levitating higher and higher in their quest. Finally they also returned to the ground.

“Sorry, Dad,” Montaro said. “We’re not as good at this as I thought! I couldn’t spot her anywhere. Could you, Mieko?”

Mieko shook her head. “I felt Benjiro’s signature, though,” she said. “Down near the jetty. But I think he’s asleep. His thoughts seem sort of slow and unfocused, like when he’s dreaming.”

“You mustn’t have gone high enough,” Mewtwo said understandingly to the twins. “And spotting signatures takes a lot of practice. But if Benji’s there, Aiko will be too. They probably went to meet the catamaran, they wouldn’t have known we’d go to the inlet instead.” He turned to Kagami and Yutaka. “Feel like a walk to the jetty?”

*

“This is strange,” Mewtwo said as the family came in sight of the beach. “I can feel Benjiro now, and you were right, Mieko, he’s asleep. But I can’t spot Aiko anywhere.”

“Maybe mum’s learnt how to shield?” suggested Hideaki.

“Perhaps,” Mewtwo conceded. “Your mother has some psychic ability, I suppose it’s not impossible…”

“But why would she bother to shield?” questioned Kagami.

“Maybe she’s learnt to go invisible!” Hanako said impulsively. “Maybe she’s hiding from us, to see if we’re smart enough to find her.”

Mewtwo shook his head with a slight smile. “Your mother’s ability doesn’t stretch that far, Hanako! She can’t levitate, either …” He stopped speaking abruptly as he caught sight of a small figure lying sprawled on the rough wood of the jetty. Even at this distance it did not seem likely that Benjiro had merely stopped to take a nap in the full blaze of the setting sun. He lay as if he had fallen, not curled into a comfortable ball as he usually did when asleep.

“Benji?”

For the first time alarm colored Mewtwo’s tone. Without another word he took off, levitating fast, heading for the jetty and the toddler, immediately followed by his other children. Kagami and Yutaka began to run through the fine sand, gripped by the sudden sense of urgency that seeing Benjiro had inspired in them all.

Mewtwo was cradling Benjiro as Yutaka and Kagami caught up with the rest of the family. Ominously, the pair of humans could see that the soft fur about the child’s mouth was crusted with dried blood, and a few more rust-red spots could be seen clearly on the pale wood of the jetty. Benjiro was strangely unresponsive in his father’s arms, floppy as a rag doll.

“He won’t wake up!” Mewtwo said frantically. “I can’t rouse him!”

“Here, let me look at him,” Yutaka said, taking the child from him and lying him on his back on the jetty. Swiftly he checked his pulse, listened to his heart, and lifted his eyelids to check his eyes. He gazed at the backs of Benji’s lightly furred ears.

“He’s sunburned,” he murmured. “Must have been lying out here for some time. And what’s this?” Yutaka bent close to peer at a raised lump on Benjiro’s shoulder. With gentle fingers he probed it. Finally he looked up.

“He’s been sedated with something,” he announced. “His vital signs are strong, so I think he should recover consciousness soon. But see this?” He indicated the lump. “This was left by a tranquilizer gun. Somebody intentionally shot him with sedative.”

“But why?” Kagami said in bewilderment. “And where’s Aiko?”

“Dad,” Montaro said quietly. He had gone to investigate a piece of paper fastened to one of the pylons. The bottom had torn loose from the staple and was flapping in the light breeze.
“I think you should read this.”

He handed it to his father, who scanned the writing quickly.

“What is it, what does it say?” Kagami asked.

Mewtwo met her eyes. His own were suddenly desolate. “My Aiko - they’ve taken her!”
*

The instructions on the kidnap note were clear – a call from Aiko’s abductors would be made at six p.m. The family gathered in the living room, waiting.

Mewtwo sat beside the telephone screen, watching it intently, as if willing it to ring. A sense of tightly-reined urgency seemed to radiate from him, like a cat watching a mouse, knowing that one misstep would alert its prey. The tip of his tail quivered now and then, revealing his inner tension.

Montaro paced the length of the room, back and forth like a caged tiger, lashing his tail, apparently unable to stay still.

Kagami held Benjiro. The child was a little more responsive; he now appeared asleep as he lay curled up on his grandmother’s lap. Now and then his eyelids would flicker, or the tips of his ears would twitch, as though he were dreaming.

Mieko sat on the floor cat-style, her tail flicked over her forepaws, her head resting against her grandmother’s knee, drawing comfort from the contact.

Hideaki and Hanako huddled together on the lounge, looking wide-eyed and frightened. Hideaki was nervously kneading one of the sofa cushions in his hands; his twin flicked her ears back and forth, startled at any small noise.

Yutaka sat beside them, still holding the note, smoothing it and re-reading it over and over, as if by doing so he would discover some clue to his daughter’s whereabouts. The note was signed: “Humans Against Genetically Engineered Organisms.”

Six p.m. came and went. By five minutes past the hour, the tension in the room was almost unbearable. Nobody said anything, but both Hideaki and Hanako were trembling, their fur puffed up in the “fight or flight” reflex.

The strident ring of the telephone jarred through the silence, making them all jump. Instantly Mewtwo pressed the button, and the screen lit up. The family all gazed at the figure that had appeared there.

A very heavyset, even corpulent, man sat gazing back out at them. His features were impossible to make out, as they were masked by constantly moving squares of gray pixels, leaving only the outline of his face, his ears, and the top of his head clear. They could see that his head was completely bald. Directly behind his seat was a window, with the blinds closed. His voice when he spoke was rough and gravelly, with a trace of an unidentifiable foreign accent. An eerie buzzing was overlaid on each word, making it obvious that his voice too had been masked to prevent identification.

“You must be the pokemon Mewtwo. I am spokesman for ‘Humans Against Genetically Engineered Organisms.’ ”

Mewtwo nodded tightly. His voice came out as a low, controlled growl. “I am Mewtwo. What have you done with my mate? How much money do you want to ensure her safe return?”

The voice took on a sarcastic note. “Your mate? We took no pokemon from the island. However, we do have your human master here as our guest.”

Mewtwo clenched his fists. “All right, then, my master. Stop playing word games and tell me how much you want.”

The man’s outline leaned back comfortably, and he laced his hands over his large stomach. “Very well. My organisation has a diverse range of members from many different countries; however we all share one common aim. We at HAGEO believe it is morally reprehensible to tamper with nature and produce monsters from what would otherwise be normal animals. Further, we feel it is wrong for the public to then make pets out of these freaks.” The man leaned forward again, and he appeared to be glaring at the screen. “But lately my organisation has been concerned by what appears to be a growing trend, a trend that goes far beyond merely reprehensible. Some human masters, Fuji Aiko for example, have gone on to commit the ultimate, the unthinkable evil. They have made lovers of these freaks, sexual slaves, and that is not to be borne! It is interesting to see that you referred to her a moment ago as your mate. To my mind that is a clear admission of guilt.”

Mewtwo was straining forwards too, fury on his face. “We’ve never made any secret of the fact that we’re in love, and certainly we’re not ashamed of it. Who are you to say what’s right and what’s wrong? You – it’s you who’s broken the law, by abducting Aiko. And I warn you, unless you begin telling me what it is you want, I won’t be constrained by human law. I’ll hunt you down, take back my mate, and destroy you and every last one of your so-called organisation!”

The man on the screen shook his head, the pixels masking his features dancing on the screen. “You think yourself so invincible do you?” he taunted. “I think not – HAGEO has researched you, my feliniform friend. We know your strengths and your weaknesses. You will not find us or your master, not if you searched for centuries.”

Mewtwo took a deep breath, his effort to keep control of his temper obvious to all in the room. “Tell me what you want!” he demanded.

“We have a digital recorder trained on your telephone screen at the moment,” the spokesman continued. “We are going to record both your reaction and your human master’s over the next few moments. You see, HAGEO plans to flood the television networks worldwide with the recording. We need to persuade other humans, who may be considering following a similar foolish path to Fuji Aiko, to rethink their actions. Plainly there are people who are not disgusted by the idea of beastiality; therefore, we at HAGEO need to point out to them the error of their ways, and what will happen to them if they continue to disregard what is morally right. HAGEO has decided to make an example of your human master.”

“What are you talking about, ‘make an example?’” Mewtwo asked uncertainly, his eyes narrowed on the man.

“Watch and learn,” the spokesman said enigmatically. He rose from his seat and walked to the window behind him, pulling the blinds open and standing to one side to allow the telephone camera an unimpeded view into the room behind.

Aiko lay strapped to a hospital-style operating table. Her mouth was taped tightly shut.

“Aiko!” Mewtwo breathed in horror, his fingers touching the telephone screen.

“We have set up a telephone pickup in that room,” the spokesman said. His voice was calm and matter-of-fact, as if abduction was an everyday occurrence for him. “The technicians are turning it on as we speak…ahh, there we are, I believe she can see you now…”

Aiko’s eyes had widened; directed at the screen in the room, she appeared to be staring right out of the phone at them. She began to struggle, pulling at the hard plastic strips binding her wrists and ankles tightly to the bed. The image was clear enough that the tensely watching family could see bloody abrasions left where her previous struggles had forced the strips to cut into her. As they gazed at her in horror, they saw new cuts appear on her skin, and blood begin to drip from them.

“Mummy!” Hanako’s frightened voice whimpered from the sofa.

Mewtwo turned tortured eyes to the spokesman, whose profile was visible at the side of the screen. “Please,” he gasped, “I’m begging you, if you have any human feeling within you, let her go! I’ll give myself to you instead; I’ll have Dr Fuji Yutaka sedate me so there’s no possibility of my attacking when you collect me. I’m powerful, I’ll work for you willingly, do your bidding, only let my Aiko go!”

“You are merely an animal, we at HAGEO do not hold you personally responsible for your actions,” the spokesman answered coldly. “We understand that you had no say in your creation, and that you were merely following your human master’s orders when you – satisfied - her carnal lusts. We have no need of your power. But Fuji Aiko must pay for her crime. And HAGEO will use her example to set others back onto the right path!”

Yutaka shouldered in beside Mewtwo to face the HAGEO spokesman. His expression was horrified. “Let my daughter go, damn you!” he yelled. “She’s never hurt anybody in her life, she and Mewtwo have lived here quietly, harming no-one! Let her go – please let her go!” He ended with a sob, and he covered his face with his hands.

“You are Fuji Yutaka, Fuji Aiko’s father? Do you deny that your daughter has had carnal knowledge of the pokemon beside you for years without you doing anything to intervene?” The HAGEO spokesman’s voice dripped with contempt.

“What Aiko and Mewtwo have between them is not beastiality,” Yutaka protested. “How can it be? Mewtwo isn’t a beast: he has a significant percentage of human genes. Their relationship is cross-species love - ”

The spokesman cut him short with a wave of one hand. “You are splitting hairs. We have sighted his file, Doctor. He’s a monster of mixed genes, which you yourself helped to create. The fact that there is some human DNA in the hellish brew makes no difference. Your daughter’s actions are degraded and disgusting. I hold you and your wife responsible for her unwholesome lusts. If she had been my daughter, I would have killed her myself before letting her be soiled by mating with an animal. Have you no sense of right and wrong? Don’t you care how you look to the world, not only acknowledging, but actually defending what your daughter did?”

“I’ll give you anything you ask,” Mewtwo begged. “Do you want money? I can get it, any amount you want. Just don’t – don’t hurt her! Oh please!”

“My organization has all the money it requires,” the cold voice continued. “We have some extremely rich benefactors amongst our number. Ah, I think we’re almost ready for the example … ”

“No! Wait!” Mewtwo cried.

But the camera was moving closer to the window, and the straining family could see that Aiko was hooked up to a heart rate and blood-pressure monitor. Her pulse was racing with fear, the machine beeping continually and a line of regular peaks and dips showing on the monitor as it tracked her rapidly beating heart.

Two people had walked into the room, a man and a woman. They wore surgical garments, and face-masks obscured their features. Aiko’s eyes widened even further as they approached; her body thrashed in frenzy as she tried to tear herself free of the restraints.

“Now watch closely,” the spokesman intoned. “This is what happens to those who break social taboos. All pokemon owners watching this, change your evil thinking, or this will happen to you. Beastiality is a crime punishable by death!”

One of the masked figures lifted a syringe. The other put her weight onto Aiko’s right arm, holding it steady even as she bucked and fought. The one holding the syringe plunged it deep into Aiko’s arm, depressing the plunger all the way.

Aiko moved in a horrible convulsion, her face a rictus of fear. The heart monitor went mad, the beeping line racing in huge uneven spikes and swoops. Then, slowly, she slumped back onto the bed, her eyes still wide and staring sightlessly at the screen. The heart monitor ceased its crazy beeping and changed to a single continuous note. The bouncing line became a flat one running straight across the screen.

The figure with the syringe looked up at the window. Only now he spoke, his voice as masked as the spokesman’s. “Death recorded at 6:21 p.m.”

The masked woman reached across and dispassionately closed Aiko’s eyes with one hand. The telephone screen went blank.
There was a moment of echoing, stunned silence as the family tried to take in the enormity of what had just happened. Then Yutaka’s sobs filled the horrible quiet, followed by his wife and one by one, each of the children.

Mewtwo was still staring at the screen in abject disbelief. He was shaking his head in denial. “No!” he whispered. “NO!”

His voice rose into an inhuman yowling wail. The big glass window of the lounge room shattered outwards with the force of Mewtwo’s anguish, and he streaked through it in a blur of movement, disappearing into the darkening sky, his psychic voice hopelessly crying Aiko’s name.